Company
by NarutoKyuu
Summary: I’ve decided to do a little soul-searching and train on the road. I don’t plan to return home for some time. I have a favor to ask of you. I want you to take the Poké Ball on the desk. I’m counting on you." :Tensaishipping:


A/N: Well. No clue what I'm doing. Got the basic gist of a plot, but…I warn you. Posting up this one-shot because I can't cram in writing LSHNBSC, I'm sorry.  
--NarutoKyuu.

(Disclaimer: …I'm starting to find these rather tiring and unnecessary. Warnings: boyxboy, perhaps OOCness, not-so-witty Pokémon phrases _Note_: Tensaishipping, and I am rather firm in my bizarre belief that Brendan and May are around sixteen years old, and that Steven is somewhere in his early twenties, just saying.)

* * *

Brendan gently patted Tropius on his neck. Flying all the way from Petalburg to Mossdeep was no small feat, and he was grateful for his Pokémon who had saved him from otherwise running, biking, and surfing his way to the island city.

"Take a nice, long rest. You've earned it."

Tropius had responded happily and, surprisingly, quite eagerly returned to the confines of his Poké Ball.

After latching the ball safely back onto his belt, Brendan made his way around the trees to the left of the Center and walked up to the house he had come to visit. Quite suddenly, he found himself rooted to the spot, breathing shallowly, and inexplicably nervous.

It was only Steven's house. What was there to be afraid of? He stood there in thought, leaning away from the door ever so slightly. What had he even come to visit _for_?

Well, the older man had been helpful throughout his quest as a trainer (surprised as though he was to find out _he_ was the Champion), and he never properly thanked him for the help. But that couldn't be enough explanation as to why he had almost _rushed_ to Mossdeep to see the man, right?

Maybe…there was that…strange – dare he think it – _attraction_ he had to the Champion.

His brain abruptly halted there and he frowned in irritation. No way. He was not _attracted_ to Steven, and he never would be. Not a chance.

But then again…

If not…

Where had that idea come from?

Stopping himself from throwing his arms up in defeat, he decided that whatever this was could be thrown to the Poochyena for all he cared. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

Silence.

After a few moments, he knocked again, a bit louder.

Silence.

Minutes later, deciding that this was getting nowhere, Brendan tried to turn the knob, not really expecting anything to come out of it. But, lo and behold, the door was unlocked.

Opening the door and peeking inside, he made a mental note to berate the elder man about locking his door…Especially when he _wasn't there_.

Brendan stepped into the empty room and closed the door behind him. Before he could question the apparent lack of furniture, something on the desk caught his eye. It was a Poké Ball and a paper.

He didn't mean to pry, but he sidled up to the table and pushed aside the chair anyways and peered curiously at the paper, wondering what was written on it.

Odd, it was addressed to him, or so he figured.

_To Brendan,  
I've decided to do a little soul-searching and train on the road. I don't plan to return home for some time.  
I have a favor to ask of you. I want you to take the Poké Ball on the desk. Inside is a Beldum, my favorite Pokémon.  
I'm counting on you.  
May our paths cross some day.  
Steven Stone_

Brendan stared blankly at the letter for a few moments, and then read it a second and third time. I'm counting on you? Counting on him to do what?

Confused, Brendan picked up the Poké Ball and inspected it, turning it around in his hands. Then, decidedly, he released the Beldum and watched as it materialized in the room. The Pokémon cried happily then looked around. Upon noticing Brendan, it fully turned so that it could stare at him with an unblinking red eye.

A staring contest ensued before Brendan realized that the Beldum was waiting for him to do something.

Tentatively, Brendan reached a hand out to cradle the cool metal head of the Pokémon. He held his breath as there was a moment of silence as the Pokémon decided whether or not to trust this new trainer. Finally, as the Pokémon snuggled back against his hand, a smile broke out on his face and pure joy blossomed in his chest.

"Alright. I'll train you, Beldum."

x-x-x

Brendan liked the sea. There was just something about the warming sun and the cooling breeze that relaxed him. There was just something about the smell of the sea that cleared his mind. There was just something about the sight of the sparkling water and the crashing waves that captivated him.

He sighed happily as he closed his eyes and let the feel of the sea wash over him as he sat there on the cliff. Beldum, just newly evolved to Metang, floated calmly nearby.

"The sea is nice today, isn't it?"

Brendan turned his head just enough so that he could see the person out of his peripheral vision to identify them, but keep his focus on the crashing waves at the same time. He smiled. "Yeah."

May sat next to him on the dirt and grass and stared out to the rippling water. Brendan returned his gaze to the sea as well. "I knew I'd find you here. This is one of the better spots to just sit and think."

Brendan raised his eyebrows in question, and asked, "Did you want to ask something?"

May hummed in thought. "Well, it's not too important, I was just curious."

"About?"

"I just thought it was odd how you always seem to have Beldum, well Metang now, with you. The only other Pokémon you keep with you at all times is Swampert, and I think that's because he was your first."

"…and?" Brendan had an inkling as to what she was trying to get at, but was still hoping that he was wrong.

"I was just wondering what your reason was for keeping Metang with you all the time, that's all," she simply replied.

Brendan froze. Well. He didn't quite know himself why he had quickly grown attached to the dual type Pokémon, so all that came out of his mouth was, "Er…"

A sly smile grew on May's face. "Er?"

Brendan panicked. When May's expression turned devilish, she was putting her evil mind to work, and work it did. "I don't really know why," he said quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly.

"Right," May said agreeably. Brendan knew she wouldn't accept that answer for a moment when she repeated "Right," again. "Steven gave you the Beldum, didn't he?"

Brendan tried to remember just _when_ he had revealed that bit of information to her as he said, "Yeah?" Oh, right. She had asked where he had gotten such a rare Pokémon, and he had said that someone gave it to him.

"So maybe…" She let it trail off, not wanting to say her thoughts clearly. A small sadistic part of her mind wanted to see Brendan's expression when he realized what she meant.

Surprised at such a preposterous insinuation (in his mind at least) Brendan looked at her with a glare. "No."

May almost grinned. "Okay. Alright. Sure."

Brendan was silent for a moment before he repeated, "No."

May just chuckled, got up and brushed the seat of her shorts off. As she walked away, she called back, "Suppression isn't good for you. Think about it."

Indignantly, he shouted back, "I'm not suppressing anything!"

x-x-x

Brendan slowly breathed in the cold air of Mt. Pyre and repressed a shiver. He wasn't so far up that eerie fog obscured his vision, but he was high enough that it was uncomfortably cold. As he stood there, he gazed out to the beautiful sea surrounding the mountain.  
It wasn't sunny today.

The waves were choppy and harsh.

The sea was angry.

He was too.

He was angry and sad.

"Oh! Brendan?"

Brendan turned to face a green-haired boy. "Wally? Are you sure your body can stand such extreme conditions?"

Wally grinned. "It is you!" His expression quickly turned to a concerned frown as all thoughts of what he was going to say flew out of his mind. Instead, Wally asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Wally quietly studied Brendan's expression before he spoke again. "Metang."

"What?"

"Metang's gone."

Brendan looked down at first. Was he really that obvious? Then he turned back to the angry sea and sat down near the edge of the mountain. "Yeah."

Invited or not, Wally followed Brendan and sat down next to him. "What happened?"

Brendan shrugged. "We were training, like any other day, and it just suddenly ran off. I tried to chase after it for a while, and even had Swellow try and follow, but after a good hour it was clear that I had lost it…"

"It meant a lot to you." It wasn't a question.

Brendan bit his bottom lip. "I guess…"

Wally offered a weak smile. "Hey, it'll be alright."

Brendan sighed. "I just want to know why."

"It'll be okay. Metang will come back."

Brendan frowned. "How can you say that so surely?"

"You have to believe in your Pokémon, as corny as that sounds." When Brendan remained silent, Wally tried again. "Look, Metang trusted you, right?"

Slowly, Brendan nodded.

"So you gotta trust it too, alright?"

Brendan was quiet as he stared at the rough waves.

Wally sat back and let him think.

Hesitantly, Brendan replied. "Okay."

x-x-x

Brendan perched on top of a rock somewhere on Mt. Pyre, gazing out at the ocean again. It was sunnier that day, and the sea was calmer, but that didn't stop the cold from seeping into his skin and chilling him.

Brendan's eyes slowly closed as he felt the serenity of the sea capture him and the heat of the sun mingle with the cold of the air.

"'_Tang_."

Something cooler than the air gently bumped against him and his eyes flew open in shock.

He looked all around him frantically but found nothing. He grumbled to himself. "Great. Now I'm hearing things." His eyelids slowly slid shut again as he bushed away the unsettling feeling of being watched.

"Metang? Where did you go off to?"

"'_Tang_," was the louder reply.  
Brendan's eyes opened wide again. There was no mistaking it this time; his imagination wasn't running off on him. He quickly stood and looked around. He finally noticed a shock of silver hair as someone turned the corner up to the level he was standing on.

"Metang?" There was that other voice again.  
Curious, Brendan stood rooted to the spot as he waited for the approaching figure to fully appear. He knew that voice from somewhere. His voice caught in his throat as silvery-blue eyes locked onto his brown ones.

"Brendan?"

Said teen weakly smiled and half-heartedly lifted his arms, silently saying, "Yeah, here I am."

Steven returned the smile with a small one of his own and walked up to the younger boy. "So this is where Metang was leading me."

Brendan nervously gave the sea a sidelong glance, trying to calm down his racing heart. He swallowed before he said, "Ah…so that's where it went."

Steven raised his brow questioningly. "It left without you asking?"

"Quite suddenly, actually," Brendan said shakily, glaring at the innocently floating Metang beside him.

"That's interesting," Steven quietly mused to himself, turning to face the sea, releasing Brendan from his gaze.

Brendan turned to look at the sea as well, feeling more than awkward. Was he supposed to say something to that?

After a lengthy silence, Steven asked, "Were you doing anything to…cause it to seek me?"

"Er…I don't think–" Brendan interrupted himself as he realized something. A blush crept along his cheeks as he stuttered, "I think…it noticed me…ah, looking at that letter more than a few times."

Brendan sat back on the rock a little disgusted with himself at his nervousness as a silence met his admission. He irritably noted that the biting cold of the air had left him some time ago.

Breathing became extremely difficult when Steven gently pulled him up by the arm. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened when he felt the older man's warm breath ghost across his lips as the other's lips were placed not a centimeter away.

Brendan took a shaky breath and swallowed before he closed his eyes and closed the distance. He couldn't help but let a surprised sound escape his mouth, and he quickly pulled away, shocked at his own boldness.

Steven pulled away as well, gave Brendan a quick, bemused look, and started walking away in silence.

As soon as Steven rounded the bend again, this time disappearing, Metang looked at its trainer in irritation as Brendan mutely stared at where Steven had been. He had come to terms with his feelings for Steven (after a long and hard battle with his pride), but he still didn't know how strong those particular feelings were, and was dumbstruck as he tried to sort through his thoughts.

Metang butted the boy impatiently, not wanting its hard work to go to waste.

Brendan looked at Metang for a few slow moments until it finally clicked. The teen wasted no time in running after the silver haired man.

He was just barely able to stop from crashing into someone as he haphazardly ran down the slope. He felt the blush return to his cheeks as he looked into Steven's clearly amused eyes. Brendan did a failed imitation of a Magikarp as his mouth opened and closed as he tried to start a sentence several times.

Finally, he muttered, "That was mean."

Steven chuckled softly and pulled him in for a kiss by the back of his neck.

Brendan pulled away and rubbed his cheeks in irritation, trying to rid himself of the burning sensation. "So how did Metang find you anyways?"

Steven smiled. "Who knows?"

"I thought you weren't returning for a while?" Brendan muttered.

"I wasn't planning to, but the Metang intrigued me. It was quite persistent."

Brendan shifted uncomfortably under Steven's stare. Then, his thought processes came to a halt as a much more important observation was made. That smile was much too amused. "You planned this!"

Feigning shock, Steven merely said, "I didn't know if it would work or not. I hadn't had much time to work with that particular Beldum I left for you, but since it actually came from my Metagross, I had a bit of a theory I wanted to test out."

An evil glint flashed through Brendan's eyes for a split second before it completely vanished. In its place was the best kicked-Eevee expression Brendan could muster, while ignoring the complaints of his already bruised pride, complete with a pout and tentative look. "So I was just…a test to you? And I just made a complete fool out of myself?" Ah, the fake tears added a nice touch.

Although it was unclear whether Steven had caught Brendan's evil intentions or not, a worried expression wiped the smile clear off of his face as he quickly tried to clear up the misunderstanding. "No, no. I gave the Beldum to you _because_ it was you. I…well…I really do like you. The theory was just a little added bonus…Honestly, I didn't even think of it until after I had left!"

Watching the usually composed man panicking and fumbling for words was far more amusing than Brendan had previously anticipated; so he faltered and let his act drop, a wide grin replacing his pout. "I got you."

Steven actually paused to stare before smirking. "Now who's being mean?"

"You can't use that against me," Brendan replied happily as he effortlessly slid his hand into Steven's. "Just playing the revenge game. You have to admit, you set yourself up for that one."

"Ah, I suppose so," Steven easily agreed. Before Brendan could feel too disappointed with the easy victory (he had hoped Steven would deny it at least a little), the taller man swiftly stole a chaste kiss. "But you're happy, so it's okay."


End file.
